Algiers, July 10, 2017 (SPS) - Saharawi Foreign Minister Mohamed Salem Ould Essalek hailed the decision taken by the African Union (AU) to revive African mechanisms aiming to help resolve the conflict between Morocco and the Saharawi Republic, stressing that the recent positions of the organization taken last week during the summit in Addis Ababa were "judicious and logical.
He advocated the respect of the legitimate rights of the Saharawi people to self-determination and independence.
"The AU will not accept the continuation of the conflict between the two states since Morocco has signed and adopted its constitutional charter whose articles 3 and 4 stipulate the imperative respect of the borders established at independence and peaceful dialogue between member countries," Ould Essalek said in a press conference held Monday at the headquarters of the Embassy of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in Algiers, following the 29th AU Summit of Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa.
The Saharawi official considered that the positions taken by the African leaders on the Saharawi cause at their 29th summit "defeated the plan of the Moroccan occupier" which joined the African organization with a view to "attempting to repeal AU's traditional decisions on the Saharawi cause".
The Saharawi Minister stressed that the 29th summit had adopted for the first time "two decisions". One "reiterates and reinforces the positions of the AU after the accession of Morocco, a decision that frustrates Morocco ", while the second, adopted at the last meeting, deals with "setting up mechanisms for actions to resolve the conflict," stressed the same official, stating that" this is the first time the AU takes such a decision since 1991."
Under these mechanisms, in paragraph 4, the AU summons the presidents of the AU and its Commission to act and to get in touch with the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guteress, to "lead a complementary operation between the two organizations, especially after the signing on May 16 of the Collective Action and the consolidation of partnership between the two organizations in order to reach solutions to the problems faced by the African continent. (SPS)
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